Monday 24 August 2015

Fruitlessness

It is sad that among many Christians there is a desire to always appear successful.  We don't like admitting to failure.  A Minister attending a Ministers' Fraternal in a large town was perplexed as in turn each one present spoke of the wonderful things that were happening in their churches.  He became concerned that something about the meeting inhibited people talking about problems they were confronting.  As an older man himself he knew that church leadership and ministry often produces tears.  So when his turn cam he deliberately only spoke about a current difficult situation in his church.  He hoped that his contribution would release other Ministers to speak more honestly.  He waited expectantly for the next man.  His opening word were "I'm glad I haven't got any problems in my church like that!"  Not one other among the 20 to 30 Ministers there were prepared to admit to problems or weaknesses.  Why can't we be more honest?


My fruitlessness story this week is about my attempt to upgrade my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  I have an early version of Windows 8 on my Surface Tablet and knew that W10 would be a better experience.  I goit ready by transferring data files to an external hard drive to maximise space.  I checked that my computer and system passed the test for the upgrade and was delighted to see the update downloading and installing automatically late one evening.  But at the critical moment it failed to load.

The next day I ran some checks and repeated the download and installation successfully.  But once more it failed on startup.  A phone call to Microsoft resulted in a very nice lady in their technical department spending a couple of hours working on my laptop remotely but every time she loaded W10 it failed at startup.  She kindly booked me a session with a senior technician and this Saturday morning he rang and we made a confident start.  During the following five hours, during which time a second senior technician joined the exercise, the outcome was fruitless.

So I wasted about a day and a half with these fruitless attempts.  I wonder how the men felt who had tried so many things to get it to work.  After all they are experts and the problem is with my laptop and not their skills.

The problem was not with the men who had gone fishing.  They spent time and effort fruitlessly despite drawing on their knowledge and experience.  They were experts but after fruitless hours had to admit defeat.  Fortunately there was another expert on hand who understood the problem and had a workable solution.  I'm sure that you know the two occasions that are mentioned in the gospels, (
Luke 5: 4-7;  John 21: 1-8)

How are you feeling about your service for the Master right now.  If it proving fruitful then give thanks to God.  On the other hand if you are going through a frustrating and difficult time, don't despair. Acknowledging our failure and listening to God's response may well change the situation.  His presence and his wisdom changed the situation for the fishermen.  However, trust in God is not the same as triumphalism, which is usually a bad thing.  Sometimes, it is part of God's plan that we live with our failure so that our faith and commitment are tested.  Many a wonderful servant of God has felt that they laboured for nothing.  Remember that success is getting up one more time thaan you fall down.

Fruitfulness in ministry of any kind is not down to our ability or goodness.  When things are not going right in our ministry then trying harder is not usually as effective as trusting more.
 
Current items for praise & prayer
Thank you for your prayers for the Sunday ministry at HMP Gartree and Yelvertoft.  There was quit blessing in both locations.  Thank you also for your prayers for Holiday at Home (10-14 August) in Market Harborough.  There was a good attendance each day and a real sense of the joy and blessing of God.  It was particularly encouraging to see how both the team and our guests worked together for the blessing of others.  We lose our leader, Rev Brian Kennard, next year but the team is in good heart and keen to keep going.  Brian and his wife are former associate evangelists from Mission fro Christ days.

Last Tuesday was my last day as Chair of the Churches Rural Group (a Coordinating Group of Churches Together in England).  While I shall continue to be part of this Group I was happy to pass responsibility on to fresh shoulders.

On Thursday I met with others responsible for Area Mission workers fro the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation.  After much prayer, consultation and reflection we have come up with a plan that has excited us as we seek to support some 30 churches in their mission.

This Sunday I share in a Joint Open Air Service in the village of Crick, Northants.
Monday 24 I share in a telephone conference responding to various requests for financial support for mission within the Congregational Federation.
Tuesday 25 there is more planning - this time with the Yelvertoft group from various churches as we plan the next two term's school assemblies.  From there I go to HMP Gartree for my regular activities.
On Wednesday 26 we hold our summer holiday Messy Church Event in Yelvertoft.  Please pray for a good attendance by children plus parents.   Please pray for the team of which I am a part.

I have been doing some important writing recently and there is more to be done.    I am also busy in several aspects of ministry so although there are no meetings for the rest of the week I expect to be very busy.

CHRISTIAN SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
I am looking for some additional members for the Webinar Team, especially people with reasonable confidence using a computer who would help monitoring questions raised by those who attend the webinars.  Email me to find out more.

Sunrise Ministries is looking for people who understand rural life, love the Lord and have ability in children's work.  At the moment we have sufficient funds to offer a part time post. This position involves work as an enabler with rural churches to help build appropriate programmes of mission and ministry to and with children.  Email me for more information about this post.

Thank you for your prayers and practical support.  Your fellowship means so much to us.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Barry

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Release the Potential


Release the Potential

The famous 19th Century evangelist Dwight Moody, having returned home after speaking at a meeting, is reputed to have told his wife that three and a half souls had been saved that night. A little perplexed his wife asked him whether he meant three adults and a child.  To this Moody responded "No, three children and one adult".  His point was that the adult had already spent half his life and could only live the remaining half for God.

Moody, together with his song leader, Ira Sankey, grew up in the USA won acclaim as an international evangelist and established a pattern for evangelism later taken up by Billy Graham.  But his ministry began with children.  Unable to obtain an opportunity for ministry he focused his attention on reaching the poorest children in Chicago.  He rented and filled three pews in his local church each Sunday and grew his Sunday School to around 500 if I remember the account aright.  I love it that this great man of God had such a vision for ministry to and with children.

In my rural ministry children have played an important part.  Through the labours of my late colleague, Monica Cook, hundreds of children have found a saving faith in Jesus and grown in discipleship,  Some now occupy positions of leadership in various churches.  This would never have happened had we not treated children as seriously as we do any adult.  We do so because that is exactly what Jesus did.


Evangelising children calls for sensitivity and common sense but in many ways it is no different to the way in which we share the gospel with adults.  The method and language is adjusted to suit the audience and care is taken not to employ methods that might manipulate emotions.  Telling the story simply is always best.  Those with whom we share the gospel story should always be encouraged to make a response, but children could simply respond because they want to please you.  It has always been our practise to encourage children who might want to ask Jesus Christ into their lives to talk with us after the meeting.  We then ensure that there are distracting and fun activities before the meeting ends.  Those children who seek us out afterwards are usually sincere.

Jesus spoke about the value of childlike faith and I think that there are few greater privileges than to pray with a child who understands and sincerely gives their life to Christ.  One soon discovers just how real this is and how much we can learn from the faith of children.

To talk of children as the church of tomorrow or the church in waiting is nonsense.  Regardless of age anyone who has placed their trust in Jesus and his work for us on the cross is part of the church of today.  We do not control admission; it is the work of the Holy Spirit.  But this then begs the question about how children develop in discipleship.  This is a glorious contrast to what extreme Islamists do with children.  We do not seek to mould their attitudes or coerce them into service.  We simply explain the resources God has given, help them learn to pray and know how to read the Bible and encourage them to seek the fullness of God in their lives.  This is no different to how we counsel adults.

If some children are real Christians it follows that they are also part of the body of Christ with gifts and ministries given them by the same Holy Spirit who gives gifts and ministries to us all.  That's where releasing the potential of our children comes in.  I have witnessed children with the gift of evangelist or a gift of pastoral ministry showing the love of God among their peers.  Monica often ran Prayer days for children with great effect.  I once went to a church where over 50 children voluntarily met for prayer for half an hour before Sunday School.  I know of schools where children have established their own fellowship meetings where staff have not been available.  If we fail to take seriously that Christian children ought to be disciples, with growing faith and ministry experience, we fail them, we fail the Church, we fail the world and we fail our God

Too often we treat children as second class.  We marginalise them when it comes to allocating space and resources.  We withhold from them what is not ours to withhold. When I was the Minister at Herstmonceux Free Church in Sussex we had the joy of having many children who had become Christians.  We celebrated communion (Eucharist) once a month and at first the children were mere spectators. Since I could find no biblical justification for refusing them the elements (we used non-alcoholic wine) I moved to inviting any children who wished to take the bread and wine to do so "if their parents approved".  A Christian father urged me to remove all qualification as he did not feel he should be the arbiter of his childrens walk with God.  I did so.  What a blessing!  But best of all was the first Sunday when the children served the bread and wine to the adults!

We need to affirm Christian children as part of the Church of today and encourage them to grow in faith and realise their potential in Christ.  Their experience and faith is only limited by our attitude.

Current items for praise & prayer
Thursday 6th - Communion at HMP Gartree, Leicestershire.
Sunday 9th - Sunday Service at HMP Gartree followed by the Sunday Morning Meeting atYelvertoft CC
Monday 10th - Friday 14th - Holiday at Home, Market Harborough.  Each morning we run various activities under the auspices of Churches Together for older people in the community.  We share good news but this is not overt evangelism.
Tuesday 11th - HMP Gartree in the afternoon.
Sunday 10th - Yelvertoft CC.

Wednesday to Friday last week was spent in Kent and Sussex.  We encourage your prayers for Dunks Green Evangelical Free Church as we work with them on constitutional matters.  This is a part f the ministry of Action for Christ. We also encourage your prayers for Herstmonceux Free Church where a great Christian has gone to be with the Lord recently and whose funeral service I attended on Thursday.  It is good to see the church going on well.  Pray too for one of my colleagues, Canon Elizabeth Ingram and I as we seek to manage a difficult situation elsewhere in Sussex.

On saturday I met with others to explore possibilities for ministry with children and young families in the East Midlands.  Your prayers for wisdom and God's guidance will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Barry